most of it is basically true, the apple t-shirt was because of microsoft developing for mac, to be honest, its not a great film, though obviously interesting to us mac geeks lol, they got ballmers annoyingness spot on though

There was at least one documentary with "Nerds" in the title that was more factual and less dramatic but it was basically all of Silicon Valley, not just Apple and Microsoft.

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"Triumph of the Nerds." It was on PBS many years ago, and was based on a book by Robert X. Cringely called "Accidental Empires." This is one of the books I'd recommend reading instead of watching "Pirates."

There was at least one documentary with "Nerds" in the title that was more factual and less dramatic but it was basically all of Silicon Valley, not just Apple and Microsoft.

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Triumph of the Nerds is what you're thinking of, but it's not as entertaining as Pirates of Silicon Valley, and I'm not sure that it really gives you as good of an idea of how things went, despite a handful of inaccuracies in Pirates.

I would absolutely LOVE for them to make a sequel. So much has happened since Pirates left off that anyone who hasn't been watching the industry in these past several years would really be misled by the film.

Triumph of the Nerds is what you're thinking of, but it's not as entertaining as Pirates of Silicon Valley, and I'm not sure that it really gives you as good of an idea of how things went, despite a handful of inaccuracies in Pirates.

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I think "Triumph" is far better, because it's actual history and "Pirates" is largely fictionalized. It's also quite entertaining, IMO. I don't know where you'd find it anymore, though.

"Triumph of the Nerds." It was on PBS many years ago, and was based on a book by Robert X. Cringely called "Accidental Empires." This is one of the books I'd recommend reading instead of watching "Pirates."

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Yes, that's the one. Christine Comaford and quite a few other journalists of the time were involved. It wasn't about acting. It was about reality.

There should be more than one and I believe the original is available through PBS.

Triumph of the Nerds is what you're thinking of, but it's not as entertaining as Pirates of Silicon Valley, and I'm not sure that it really gives you as good of an idea of how things went, despite a handful of inaccuracies in Pirates.

I would absolutely LOVE for them to make a sequel. So much has happened since Pirates left off that anyone who hasn't been watching the industry in these past several years would really be misled by the film.

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Triumph showed how it was. It wasn't sensationalised or as inaccurate as Pirates was, though the bit about the smell wasn't sensationalised. It was downplayed.

I thought it was interesting in that it provided a dramatic stage for my understanding of the whole Jobs/Gates story. I am reading a fantastic book called Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire, and have seen the DVD titled Triumph of the Nerds. So, based on those sources, quite a bit of "Pirates" is based on real events... or at least universally accepted urban legends.

The things that I saw that didn't seem to match "reality" were mostly minor. For instance, there was a scene where Gates was visiting IBM that screwed up some of the details. My understanding is that he purchased a tie at a department store on the way to the meeting... not from a guy in a restroom like in the movie. Also, the scene in the movie looked like it was shot in New York or somewhere. The initial meetings were at an IBM facility in Boca Raton, FL. The movie also sort of made that scene look like gates initiated the contact with IBM. He did not. Big Blue came looking for him. At another point in the movie, Gates runs into Paul Allen's car with a bulldozer. I believe the story was that he almost ran over his own Porsche, not that he hit Allen's car. In the movie, Gates immediately drops out of Harvard to work on the contract at MITS. In reality, I believe he only worked in New Mexico for a Summer before returning to Harvard. He dropped out of Harvard about a year later.

The one thing that "Priates" added to my understanding was how mean Jobs has been at times. There is a scene in the movie where he enters a room while a software engineer is being interviewed for a position at Apple. Jobs berates and embarrasses the man so bad that the poor guy looks like he is about to cry. That scene just sort of made me cringe. Frankly, the movie sort of made me have some second thoughts about buying a Mac (which I have yet to do).

In all fairness, I know that Gates has been cruel to his employees at times. I'm neutral enough on the PC/Mac rivalry to even think that "Pirates" comes across as anti-Mac propaganda. Other than yelling at people, Gates has not been above business moves that sort of screw people over... like buying a DOS system for $50K and turning around and making billions on it... or playing hard ball with MITS or IBM... or using Harvard's mainframe to create commercial products. Microsoft apologists would say it was just good business, but it sure wasn't always pretty. The "Pirates" movie seemed to play down things that made Gates look bad (it didn't include any scenes of his obnoxious youth). For instance, the movie spent alot of time focusing on Jobs' screwed up relationship with his daughter, and didn't really touch on Gates' personal life (other than to show a scene where Steve Ballmer was sort of teasing him about his lack of a personal life).

I would normally be more at home around a hippie (like Jobs) than I would a nerd (like Gates)... but the movie made Jobs look much more like a crazy and abusive megalomaniac. At least, that was my impression.

You've put your finger on some of the inaccuracies in "Pirates." I recall there being others, but it's been years since I've seen this movie. I do remember rolling my eyes quite a bit though. You might also want to read "Overdrive," the follow-up to "Hard Drive." These books were written by solid journalists. The book "Gates" by Manes and Andrews is also pretty good. All of them are worth reading, if you find actual events to be even more entertaining than fiction.

Both Jobs and Gates are megalomaniacal control freaks in their own ways, as are a lot of successful businesspeople. But Gates really takes the prize in this contest IMO. He believes in winning at all costs, and just for the sake of winning.

But Gates really takes the prize in this contest IMO. He believes in winning at all costs, and just for the sake of winning.

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I guess it all depends on what version of meglomania you dislike the most.

Me, I can handle a "win at all cost" ideology. I can even handle having a mean boss who gets off on yelling at people (heck, I was in the Army for 12 years!). But, if Steve Jobs is at all like the character in "Pirates" I would have been one of those Apple employees who tried to beat the crap out of him.

I guess it all depends on what version of meglomania you dislike the most.

Me, I can handle a "win at all cost" ideology. I can even handle having a mean boss who gets off on yelling at people (heck, I was in the Army for 12 years!). But, if Steve Jobs is at all like the character in "Pirates" I would have been one of those Apple employees who tried to beat the crap out of him.

Thanks for the book recommendations. I'll check them out.

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Well as you know from reading "Hard Drive," Gates has a habit of throwing hissy fits too.

Well as you know from reading "Hard Drive," Gates has a habit of throwing hissy fits too.

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Oh yeah. I said that in my previous post (#16, paragraph next to last).

My point is that I'd much rather have some nut case yelling at me for not generating some work ten minutes faster.... than to have a shoeless psycho asking me details about my sex life (like the Jobs character did in this movie).

I had a boss for a couple years that I was in the Army who threw a fit because some guy took some time off when his mother died. He was an absolute head case. So, I know what it's like to work for crazy idiots.

From what I understood, at least Bill Gates was at least mission oriented in his abusive behavior. Jobs appears to simply be a raving lunatic.

Oh yeah. I said that in my previous post (#16, paragraph next to last).

My point is that I'd much rather have some nut case yelling at me for not generating some work ten minutes faster.... than to have a shoeless psycho asking me details about my sex life (like the Jobs character did in this movie).

I had a boss for a couple years that I was in the Army who threw a fit because some guy took some time off when his mother died. He was an absolute head case. So, I know what it's like to work for crazy idiots.

From what I understood, at least Bill Gates was at least mission oriented in his abusive behavior. Jobs appears to simply be a raving lunatic.

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I don't get that impression exactly. I mean, I do think they get to be judged at least some for the products their respective companies make. I believe that Jobs is a lunatic in pursuit of excellence whereas Gates is a lunatic in pursuit of mediocrity. That said, I don't know how much time I'd like to spend in a room alone with either one of them.

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